I should have known that accepting a Yahoo! News assignment about my personal struggles with obesity was opening myself up to hateful comments (which I've experienced on Yahoo! whenever one of my articles was featured on a main Yahoo! page, regardless of the subject matter), but this time it was particularly virulent.

I should have also realized that using the same sort of self-deprecating humor that has worked for me so well on LJ Idol would completely fly over the heads of many of the Yahoo! readers. But... wow. Stupid much? It's beneath me to reply to any of those benighted comments, and honestly, I'm going to stop reading them now (though I will have my writerly revenge eventually, as it's inspired me to write a piece about the misunderstandings about weight gain and obesity).

Anyway, here's the link, because I'd love to have some friendly voices in the mix. You're welcome to leave them on the Yahoo! page, but if you want me to see them, you'll also have to leave them on LJ, because like I said, I won't be reading any more:

I thought your article was well written and clear. I did not get the sense at all that you blamed your child for your weight. The comments I read were ridiculous. I did not read them all, maybe 20 out of the 30 that were there at the time I read the article. What I don't understand is why so many make the leap from disease to disability. It enrages people to think of fat people not having to work anymore, just staying home collecting Social Security Disability and, God forbid, getting fatter on food stamps.

I know! They either hadn't read the AMA article referenced or just didn't understand it. I'm glad that you found it well-written and clear. That's why I call LJ my home: the quality of discussion here tends to be much higher! Thanks so much for checking it out and commenting.

My mother's very best friend, the woman she grew up with in AZ has twin daughters. I believe they are around the age of 27? Both girls had a stroke within 6 months of each other. I have known this for awhile, but I saw an article on yahoo's main page about it recently. I made the mistake of reading the comments. I did not point the article out to my mother. I was afraid she would read the comments. People are awful sometimes. I just don't understand the malice and judgement, especially when they don't know any of the facts.

As we used to say in Central Pennsylvania in the 1980s, maybe they "get their jollies" from it.

That's a really sad story about your mother's best friend. It's smart not to point the article out to your mother. While it's only a fraction of the people who read an article that comment on it, for some reason that's usually the people with something atrocious to say, at least on major news sites. I don't understand it, either. People with small lives and a desire to make others feel as miserable as them, I imagine.

Thank you. Funny and sweet was what I was going for, because I was hoping that a lot of other women could identify.

Next time, I really ought to just not even scroll down that far so I don't see if there's any comments or not. Fortunately, Yahoo! doesn't send me notifications when comments are posted on my articles.

It seems like most of the people reading and commenting on these kinds of articles simply like spouting nonsense. Reading them usually makes me want to headdesk.

The comments at the bottom right now are the not-helpful suggestions for breast feeding or calorie counting. Because really, intelligent people do that first. And that doesn't mean it's still easy to do!

Well, first of all, if I HADN'T tried breast feeding, it's a bit late to start now. Second, I did breast feed (although we supplemented with bottles, but I doubt that makes a difference).

And the thing is, I've been tracking calories and exercising since having KFP. I didn't discover until recently that what matters more, for me, is avoiding certain foods that disagree with me, and drinking enough water. But all of that didn't belong in what was supposed to be, according to the assignment, a 500-word article.

I think the thing with breastfeeding is more the actual supply that comes out. We supplemented with Zach when we went out since I couldn't let him drink off the tap, so to speak. Once the 500+ calorie drain is over and done with, though, the weight can creep back on. ::shrugs::

I found the tone of the comments more like people deciding they know what's best for someone without knowing what the situation is. All these armchair dieticians that might be in the overweight or obese categories themselves, yanno? :)